Bellinghame Public Schools

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DATE: February 25, 2010 21:27:32 PST

Bellingham School District Acting Superintendent Sherrie Brown presented the Recommended Budget Savings Plan at the Feb. 25 School Board meeting. The plan is based on ideas submitted from staff and the public, a recommendation from the District Budget Advisory Committee, and additional input from staff and the public.

The district needs to have a savings plan in place by mid-March when the state Legislature is expected to finish its work. The state budget deficit is currently identified as being at least $2.8 billion. We know—based on the information currently available in the Governor’s proposed budget, the growing state budget deficit and anticipated rising expenses—that we will need to reduce our district’s $100 million general operating budget by approximately $2 million and this estimate could grow.

Please click here to view the Recommended Budget Savings Plan. The School Board’s online Listening Post is always open: please click here. In addition, the Board will hold a Listening Session at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 4 at Northern Heights Elementary School, 4000 Magrath Road. The Listening Session is for any community or staff member to provide public comment about the Budget Savings Plan Recommendation to one or more Board members. All comments will be recorded and provided to every Board member. This is a time for Board members to listen, not to discuss budget savings concerns. Staff will be available to answer questions. Following the Listening Session, the School Board will take action on the Budget Savings Plan Recommendation on March 11, 2010.  

"This is extremely difficult, especially following consecutive years of reductions, because these decisions affect jobs and people who care deeply about our children and their success," Brown says. "To lessen the impact of the state's forthcoming budget and impact on our district, I have made the decision to move forward immediately with planning for several school scheduling and transportation efficiencies. I have worked closely with many stakeholders to develop the Recommended Budget Savings Plan. I thank everyone for their input."

School scheduling and transportation efficiencies that will be in effect for fall 2010 will save a total of approximately $216,000 annually. They are:

  •  Aligning the elementary school schedule so that grades K-2 and 3-5 have the same start and end times. This saves $100,000 in transportation efficiencies alone and improves convenience for families. District families and staff are asked to click here to take a brief survey to provide their preferences about school start and end times by noon, Friday, March 5. One of the options involves starting and releasing middle and high school 15 minutes earlier to accommodate all bus runs. We also explored aligning the middle and high schedules, but are unable to do so at this time because of the number of additional buses required. The district is working toward aligning middle and high school schedules by fall 2011 to increase students' access to electives, acceleration and credit opportunities. 
  • Return to full-day, every other day kindergarten for the regular program. The full-day schedule -- instead of the current half-day schedule -- is more effective for instruction using the High Scope method. It also reduces the district’s transportation costs by about $70,000 by eliminating mid-day bus runs. For families that prefer a full-day, every day schedule, this option is being expanded and offered at Alderwood, Carl Cozier, Happy Valley, Lowell, Northern Heights, Parkview, Roosevelt, Silver Beach and Wade King elementary schools on a space available-basis with sliding-scale tuition. Please click here for details.

  • Moving the Graduation Reality and Dual Role Skills (GRADS) program for teen parents to Squalicum High School. This improves academic access for students, who will spend about half of the academic day in the GRADS program and half in Squalicum classes. The district will explore having Early Head Start and regular Head Start programs at Squalicum to support GRADS students’ children. The savings is about $6,000 in utility costs by not operating a separate facility for this program.

  •  Reducing the overall number of early release days based on input from families and improving scheduling convenience by changing some of the remaining half-day early release days to full days. Conference early release days would not be affected. The Deputy Superintendent is working with the Use of Time Task Force to revise the calendar and research how to apply for two state waiver days. This time is used by staff to improve student learning. If implemented, this would save approximately $40,000.